HB 5194

Abstract

Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that a water utility official or his or her designee must notify (i) the local fire officials of any hydrant that it finds necessary to take out of service for water main-related work due to emergency repairs or scheduled maintenance, whenever such maintenance work and hydrant out of service condition is expected to last more than 8 hours or if the main will be unattended at any time during the outage and (ii) the dispatcher or designated fire official of any hydrant reported to be inoperable or expected to operate with a rate of water flow less than a normal rate expected for the hydrant as soon as practical, but in no event more than 2 hours, after receiving the notice from an employee, contractor, police department, or other government official, and, under normal conditions, must have the hydrant restored to service within 48 hours. Provides a fine of $100 per day for failure to make the notification or repairs, which shall be paid to the fire department or fire protection district. Allows for enforcement by the fire department or fire protection district. Effective immediately.